Live à Bercy is the second live album by Mylène Farmer, released on 21 May 1997. It was also produced as a video.
Background After the successful concerts tour of 1996, whose shows were spread out from 25 May to 15 December, a live album was recorded and produced by Thierry Suc, and sponsored by NRJ. It was remixed in studio to give it a better sound. The re-orchestrations, composed by Laurent Boutonnat, were very dynamic with very rock sonorities.L'Intégrale Mylene Farmer, Erwan Chuberre, 2007, City Ed., p. 193-194 () The photos illustrating the booklet were realized by Claude Gassian. The track listing contains songs from the four studio albums of Farmer, but Anamorphosée was sharply privileged, because all its songs were included on the album, except "Eaunanisme". This live album was released on 21 May 1997.Le Dictionnaire des Chansons de Mylène Farmer, Benoît Cachin, 2006, Tournon Ed., p. 188-190
In May, a musical video of the concert was also realized, first as a VHS. For the first time, François Hans participated in the shooting of a live. As for the previous live album En concert, several scenes were re-filmed without the audience. The live video contains nevertheless numerous errors of editing, because it was compiled from four shows: three at Bercy and another in Geneva. It contains besides a making of and new images.
Two years later, in May 1999, the video was released as a DVD, which constituted moreover the first DVD of the singer. However, it doesn't contain the bonuses available on the cassette. The DVD was dedicated to the singer's brother, Jean-Loup Gautier, died on 26 October 1996 after a road accident.
Critical reception
Generally well received by media, the album was nevertheless criticized for having been too much remixed in studio. For example, the journalist Caroline Bee declared: "Everything is emphasized: Mylène's voice, the shouts of the public, Abraham Laboriel's powerful drum, the bass and both guitars, impeccable. All that gives a perfect whole, without dissonance, but which sounds more as an album studio than as a real transcription of concert".Mylène Farmer – La part d'ombre, Caroline Bee, Antoine Bioy & Benjamin Thiry, 2005, Archipel Ed., p. 364-365
Commercial performance In France, the album debuted at number 3 on French Album Chart, on 24 May 1997. It then reached its peak position, #2, for two consecutive weeks, and for two other weeks two months later. Andrea Bocelli's Romanza, then Era's eponymous album made it unable to reach number one. It remained for 18 weeks in the top ten, and dropped until #36 on 8 November, but managed to re-entered the top 20 the week after and there stayed for nine weeks. It almost kept on dropping the months after and left the chart (Top 75) after its 44th week of attendance, on 28 March 1998. Three days before, the album achieved Double platinum status by the SNEP, the French certifier, for a minimum of 600,000 copies sold.1998 certifications, by SNEP Disqueenfrance.com (Retrieved 3 April 2008)
The video, both the VHS and the DVD, reached the first position on the French Videos Chart. They were both certified Diamond videos on 24 October 2001, for more than 100,000 sold copies.
In Belgium Wallonia, the album went straight to number 4 on 7 June 1997 and then peaked at #2 for 12 consecutive weeks (Era topped the chart then). After 18 weeks in the top ten, the album slowly dropped the four following months and disappeared from the chart (Top 50) on 31 March 1998, after 35 weeks of attendance.
Track listing Album French version
ˣ Not included in the cassette release.
VHS/DVD Act I "Ouverture" (4:45) "Vertige" (6:20) "California" (7:30) "Que mon cœur lâche" (4:35) "Et Tournoie..." (4:30) Act II "Je t'aime mélancolie" (5:20) "L'Autre..." (5:50) Act III "Libertine" (5:40) "L'Instant X" (9:36) Act IV "Alice" (5:25) "Comme j'ai mal" (4:35) Act V "Sans contrefaçon" (4:20) "Mylène s'en fout" (4:45) "Désenchantée" (8:15) Act VI "Rêver" (8:00) "Laisse le vent emporter tout" (6:25) "Tomber 7 fois..." (6:00) "Ainsi soit je..." (5:00) "La Poupée qui fait non" (duet with Khaled) (4:30) Encore "XXL" (7:00)
Personnel
Laurent Boutonnat – arranger, producer AJ Ocampo - dancer Jermaine Brown – dancer Yvan Cassar – arranger, clavier, director, keyboards, musical director Bertrand Chatnet – mixing Jeff Dahlgren – guitar Christophe Danchaud – dancer Mylène Farmer – concept, primary artist, vocals Emmanuel Feyrabend – mixing, mixing assistant Claude Gassian – photography Khaled – performer Abe Laboriel Jr. - drums Henry Neu – design André Perriat – mastering Philippe Rault – consultant, producer Brian Ray – guitar Thierry Rogen – engineer Carole Rowley – choir/chorus Brian Thomas – dancer Paul Van Parys – executive producer Jerry Watts Jr. - bass Donna DeLory - Dancer/back vocalist
Charts
Weekly album charts + Initial weekly chart performance for Live à Bercy Chart (1997–1998) Peakposition European Albums (Music & Media) 17 + 2020 weekly chart performance for Live à Bercy Chart (2020) Peakposition
Weekly DVD charts Chart (2010)Peakposition
Year-end album charts + 1997 year-end chart performance for Live à Bercy Chart (1997) PositionBelgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)13 European Albums (Music & Media) 81French Albums (SNEP)11
Year-end DVD charts Chart (2006)PositionFrench DVDs (SNEP)52Chart (2007)PositionFrench DVDs (SNEP)99Chart (2009)PositionFrench DVDs (SNEP)57Chart (2010)PositionFrench DVDs (SNEP)56
Certifications and sales
!colspan=3|Album
!colspan=3|VHS
!colspan=3|DVD
Formats Audio Double CD Double CD – Promo - "Spider" (2 CD + VHS) Cassette (Doesn't contain "Et Tournoie..." and "Tomber 7 fois...")
Video VHS Plastic case with hologram logos Plastic case with silvery logos 12" Laserdisc DVD Plastic case with hologram logos Plastic case with silvery logos
References